Type a cron expression such as */15 9-17 * * 1-5, or build one with the five field boxes and preset buttons, and the tool explains it in plain English and lists the next 10 times it will run. Switch between your local time and UTC, since servers often run cron in UTC.
It supports the standard five-field syntax used by Linux crontab, most hosting panels, GitHub Actions and Kubernetes CronJobs: *, lists with commas, ranges with hyphens, steps with slashes, month and weekday names, and shortcuts like @daily and @hourly.
How to use the Cron Expression Generator tool
- Type or paste a cron expression, or click a preset.
- Adjust the minute, hour, day of month, month and day of week fields.
- Read the plain-English description.
- Check the next 10 run times, in local time or UTC.
- Copy the expression into your crontab or scheduler.
Why use ToolOrca Cron Expression Generator
- Plain-English explanation
- Next 10 run times
- Local time or UTC
- Presets for common schedules
- Names (JAN, MON) and @daily shortcuts
- Clear errors for invalid fields
Cron syntax cheat sheet
The five fields are: minute (0–59), hour (0–23), day of month (1–31), month (1–12 or JAN–DEC) and day of week (0–7 or SUN–SAT, where 0 and 7 are Sunday).
* means every value, 1,15 is a list, 1-5 is a range and */10 means every 10th value. Examples: 0 * * * * every hour, */5 * * * * every 5 minutes, 0 0 * * * every day at midnight, 0 9 * * 1-5 weekdays at 09:00, 0 0 1 * * the first day of every month.
Day of month and day of week together
If both day fields are restricted, standard cron runs the job when either matches. 0 12 13 * 5 runs at noon on the 13th of every month and on every Friday, not only on Friday the 13th. This tool follows that rule.
Some schedulers, such as Quartz, use six or seven fields with seconds and a ? character. This tool covers the classic five-field format.
Frequently asked questions
How do I run a cron job every 5 minutes?
Use */5 * * * *. For every 15 minutes during office hours on weekdays: */15 9-17 * * 1-5.
What time zone does cron use?
Cron uses the time zone of the server it runs on, which is often UTC. Switch the run times to UTC to see when a job will actually start on such a server.
Does it support seconds?
No. Standard crontab has no seconds field, so the smallest interval is one minute.
What does @daily mean?
It is a shortcut for 0 0 * * *, every day at midnight. @hourly, @weekly, @monthly and @yearly work too.